Being rich sounds great right? Everyone loves money and life can be exciting when you have it but being rich doesn’t always last and that excitement can be gone really fast. Wealth comes with time and wisdom, it’s a lifestyle that is more sustainable. The big difference in being rich vs. being wealthy is the amount of time that you have money. Does that money serve you when you get it or does it serve you long after you get it?

Being Rich

Being rich means that you have a lot of money from anything, winning the lottery, inheriting money, working, etc. Often, when people are rich, they show off their money. They drive nice cars, own fancy items, and buy the best of the best. They enjoy their time with their money and can live a nice life. Rich people tend to get overzealous with their spending and though they may have a high income, they don’t have much net worth.

Living a rich life is all fun and games until that money runs out. A recession hits and you lose that high paying job, you blow through that inheritance or lottery winnings, an emergency happens, and you have to spend a large bit on bills or repairs. Life is going to continue as you spend money. You hear all that time about celebrities going bankrupt because they’re spending more than saving.

Being Wealthy

Wealth is saving. It means you put a percentage of each income away in savings, you invest, you have a retirement fund set aside (through your job or on your own), and you are mindful about where you put your money. When you are wealthy, you have money that will last for a long time to come so when emergencies happen and depression hits, you aren’t frantically trying to figure out where your next paycheck is going to come from.

The wealthiest people live simple lives. They spend money on things that genuinely excite them and add to their lives but for the most part, they live well within their means and don’t overspend. The wealthy know how to make money. They may be presented with money challenges, but they know when and how to earn their money back through their knowledge.

Why it’s Better to be Wealthy Than Rich

Being rich vs being wealthy doesn’t always have much difference in the way of income, but there is a big difference in the way of how that money is put to use and where it goes. It’s not as fun to be rich as it is wealthy because it’s not a sustainable lifestyle. Having a high paying job is wonderful…if you are smart with your money. If you make $100,000 a year and spend $85,000 of it, you aren’t going to be rich once things take a turn. At that point, you are better off making $50,000 and saving half of it. You don’t have to make a lot of money to be wealthy, you just have to be smart with it.

Wealth isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about how much money you keep. The differences between being rich vs being wealthy are large and it’s better to live a wealthy life that a rich one. You get to enjoy the things that genuinely matter in life all being able to know that when crap hits the a fan, you’ll still be okay!